A computing resource service provider may provide various services to customers. For example, a customer with an account of the service provider may programmatically manage computing resources hosted by the service provider. Similarly, access to the resources may occur over a network. To simplify management of and access to computing resources hosted by a service provider, customers may utilize a domain name service. In this manner, various computing devices can be programmed with domain names corresponding to resources instead of hard coding Internet Protocol (IP addresses) and other identifiers, which may change over time as a result of actions performed by the customers and/or as a result of actions performed by the service provider. As an example, customers may utilize managed directory services to create and maintain a directory (e.g., file systems, files, users, security policies, network resources, applications, system storage, etc.) for data management and, generally, access to a variety of resources. In order to make this directory easier for others to access, customers may request that a particular domain name be assigned to the directory.
The use of domain names, however, can present various issues. For example, numerous entities may desire use of the same domain name. Sometimes, entities simply desire the same domain name because, for instance, the domain name has semantic meaning of some value to each entity. Often, multiple entities will have a legitimate claim to the same domain name. In other examples, some entities reserve domain names for the purpose of selling the domain names to others. In this latter example, such reservation schemes may violate terms of use, rules and/or laws but may nevertheless cause significant burdens on organizations that utilize domain names. Generally, effective management of domain names creates numerous burdens on those who manage and utilize such domain names as part of their operations.